Spatio-temporal variation of wind influence on distribution offineparticulate matter and its precursor gases

Özet

Frequent occurrence of severe haze in Beijing indicates the importance of effective decisions and clear goals toreduce the concentration of particulate matter in the atmosphere. To achieve this goal, elucidation of the ele-ments governingfine particulate matter concentrations should be considered as one of the priorities. In thispaper, we proposed a statistical model based on physical understanding of the diffusion of air pollutants by windto investigate the sensitivity offine particulate matter and its precursor gases concentrations to wind speed anddirection. By using our method, it is possible to determine the major wind directions that have large impact onair quality for a particular area. Our results showed that the influence of wind on the concentration of particulatematter and its precursor gases varies spatially over Beijing. Our method suggested that both local emissionsources offine particulate matter and its precursor gas (NO2) and transported SO2from regional industriesshould be reduced for the remediation of severe air pollution scenarios, especially in the Beijing urban area. Ourapproach serves as a good complement for commonly used approaches for source apportionment analysiswithout exploiting complicated methods. The method shows its feasibility in identifying air pollutant emissionsources based on wind patterns and can be used in other regions as an aid in air pollution controlling programs.